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Killer’s Retirement Accounts Subject to Civil Judgement

A convicted killer won’t be able to shield his retirement assets from a $124 million jury judgement in a case brought by the estate of the wife he killed.

A Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas judge ruled Jan. 5 that the estate of Ellen Gregory, who was killed by Rafael Robb in 2006, will be able to recover funds from his retirement accounts, which total nearly $3 million. Robb, an ex-University of Pennsylvania professor who bludgeoned his wife to death, had filed a motion arguing that funds in his individual retirement accounts should be exempt from the court-ordered constructive trust.

The Legal Intelligencer reports that Robb contended the funds are exempt from debtors, citing Pennsylvania C.S. Section 8124, which exempts retirement and annuity funds from judgment debtors, and Section 8122, which says the exemptions cannot be waived by a debtor.

However, Judge Thomas M. Del Ricci agreed with the plaintiff’s argument that Gregory’s estate is entitled to a portion of the assets under the Pennsylvania Slayer’s Act, which prohibits anyone from benefiting from a murder.

While the couple was still married at the time of her death, Judge Del Ricci noted that Gregory had been planning to divorce her husband before he killed her — and that she would have been entitled to some of his retirement assets in a divorce.

Robb bludgeoned Gregory to death in their home in December 2006. He was arrested in January 2007 and charged with first- and third-degree murder. He later pleaded to voluntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to 5 to 10 years. In November 2014, a Montgomery County jury awarded $124 million in the civil case against Robb, including compensatory and punitive damages.

Robb reportedly had three IRA accounts totaling more than $517,000 and a retirement account valued at nearly $2.3 million.

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